AI tools drive a surge in complaints and filings to public services

In short: AI assistants are making it much easier to fill out forms and write complaints, and public services are getting far more requests as a result.

What's going on

Public agencies around the world are reporting sharp jumps in applications, complaints, and petitions since large AI chat tools became widely used. These tools can help people draft letters, organize documents, and fill in online forms, like having a fast helper who turns messy notes into a finished form.

In the United Kingdom, complaints to the housing ombudsman more than doubled after the introduction of ChatGPT, rising from about 2,600 in 2022 to just over 7,000 last year. In the United States, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau saw complaints grow five times over a similar period. TechCrunch also notes similar increases in Brazilian court petitions and German parliamentary petitions.

Researcher Chris Schmitz calls this pattern “agentic flooding,” meaning a large increase in submissions helped along by AI agents (software that can take steps for you, like drafting and submitting a request). In a paper based on 84 cases across 11 jurisdictions, Schmitz says many services were steady before 2022, then climbed quickly as AI tools spread. He stops short of saying AI directly caused every increase, but says the pattern is consistent and it has not slowed in most places.

What to watch

A key question is how agencies respond if the volume keeps rising. Schmitz told TechCrunch that most new filings appear to come from real people with valid claims, not spam. That could mean governments need to redesign processes and staffing, so public services can handle more requests without long delays.

Source: TechCrunch AI